Air control system for a building

ABSTRACT

An air control system to control a flow of warm air and/or cold air within a building, the air control system including a furnace to provide the warm air to rooms within the building, an air conditioning unit to provide the cold air to the rooms within the building, a plurality of thermostats/sensors disposed in the rooms within the building to sense temperatures in each of the rooms, and to allow a user to manually change the temperatures in each of the rooms, a plurality of mechanical vents disposed in each of the rooms to open and close based on the sensed temperatures in each of the rooms, and a computer to control the furnace and the air conditioning unit to turn on and/or off based on temperature settings set by the user in each of the rooms, and to control the plurality of mechanical vents to open and close.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The present general inventive concept relates generally to an air control system, and particularly, to a computerized air control system for a building.

2. Description of the Related Art

Existing household central AC systems and central heating systems provide a very limited degree of local control over the temperature in the various rooms of a house. The typical existing system has a single, centrally located thermostat, whereby local temperature in each room is controllable only by means of one or two manually operated vents. But these existing vents only partially block the flow of air, restricting those who do not have control over that central thermostat to an often uncomfortably cold (or hot) environment. Additionally, manually closing and opening these vents (which are typically out of reach) may be very inconvenient. Moreover, these existing systems often result in the waste of considerable amounts of energy due to the unnecessary cooling or heating of unoccupied rooms and wasted energy equals wasted money.

Therefore, there is a need for system of separately controlling temperature in each room while saving energy and cost.

SUMMARY

The present general inventive concept provides a computerized air control system.

Additional features and utilities of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.

The foregoing and/or other features and utilities of the present general inventive concept may be achieved by providing an air control system to control a flow of warm air and/or cold air within a building, the air control system including a furnace to provide the warm air to rooms within the building, an air conditioning unit to provide the cold air to the rooms within the building, a plurality of thermostats/sensors disposed in the rooms within the building to sense temperatures in each of the rooms, and to allow a user to manually change the temperatures in each of the rooms, a plurality of mechanical vents disposed in each of the rooms to open and close based on the sensed temperatures in each of the rooms, and a computer to control the furnace and the air conditioning unit to turn on and/or off based on temperature settings set by the user in each of the rooms, and to control the plurality of mechanical vents to open and close.

The plurality of mechanical vents may be air-tight.

The furnace may provide the warm air to the rooms and the air conditioning unit provides the cold air to the rooms via a duct system disposed throughout the building and connected to the plurality of mechanical vents.

The computer may control the furnace and the air conditioning unit to turn on and/or off with respect to temperature settings set by the user at the plurality of thermostats/sensors in each of the rooms and based on the temperatures sensed in each of the rooms.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other features and utilities of the present generally inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an air control system in a building, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various example embodiments (a.k.a., exemplary embodiments) will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which some example embodiments are illustrated. In the figures, the thicknesses of lines, layers and/or regions may be exaggerated for clarity.

Accordingly, while example embodiments are capable of various modifications and alternative forms, embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the figures and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit example embodiments to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, example embodiments are to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the disclosure. Like numbers refer to like/similar elements throughout the detailed description.

It is understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.).

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including,” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. It will be further understood that terms, e.g., those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art. However, should the present disclosure give a specific meaning to a term deviating from a meaning commonly understood by one of ordinary skill, this meaning is to be taken into account in the specific context this definition is given herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates an air control system 100 in a building 101, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept.

The air control system 100 may be entirely disposed within a building 101, such that the building 101 may be a house, an office building, a warehouse, etc.

The air control system 100 may include a computer 110, a furnace 120, an air conditioning unit 130, a plurality of thermostats/sensors 140, electrical lines 150, and a plurality of mechanical vents 160. The electrical lines 150 may connect the other components together electrically, including, but not limited to, the computer 110, the furnace 120, the air conditioning unit 130, the plurality of thermostats/sensors 140, and the plurality of mechanical vents 160. The electrical lines 150 may include either strictly lines that transmit electricity, or additionally, may include data lines that may transfer data thereacross and among the other components within the air control system 100.

The furnace 120 and the air conditioning unit 130 may be connected to a duct system 131, such that warm air and/or cold air may be dispersed throughout the building 101 when the furnace 120 and/or the air conditioning unit 130 are turned on based on temperature sensed in a particular room 102 and/or a user's manipulation of the plurality of thermostats/sensors 140. As such, the furnace 120 may provide the warm air to the rooms 102 of the building 101, and the air conditioning unit 130 may provide the cold air to the rooms 102 of the building 101 via the duct system 131 disposed throughout the building 101 and connected to the plurality of mechanical vents 160.

The computer 110 may be a processor, microprocessor, mobile device, or any other type of central computing system that controls the other components within the air control system 100 and allows the other components within the air control system 100 to communicate with each other. More specifically, the computer 110 may receive temperature readings from the plurality of thermostats/sensors 140, and control the plurality of mechanical vents 160 to open and/or close based on a temperature sensed in a particular room 102 and/or a user manually changing a temperature at the plurality of thermostats/sensors 140. Also, the computer 110 may control the furnace 120 and/or the air conditioning unit 130 to turn on and/or off based on a temperature sensed in a particular room 102 and/or a user manually changing a temperature at the plurality of thermostats/sensors 140. Also, if a user wants a particular room 102 to be cooler than the rest of the building 101, the user may manually set the thermostat/sensor 140 in the particular room 102 at a particular temperature, such that the mechanical vent 160 is opened and/or closed to regulate the particular temperature in the particular room 102.

Also, the computer 110 may monitor and control pressure changes in the duct system 131 resulting from the opening and closing of different mechanical vents 160, in order to ensure that those pressure changes do not result in damage to any part of the air control system 100.

The plurality of thermostats/sensors 140 may be thermostats and/or sensors that allow a user to manually control a temperature within a certain room 102, and may also sense a temperature in the room 102 to control a mechanical vent within the room 102 to open and/or close, based on the sensed temperature. The plurality of thermostats/sensors 140 may include a display unit to display a temperature thereon, and may also include an input unit such as a dial, knob, button, touch screen, etc., to allow the user to change the temperature in the room 102.

The plurality of mechanical vents 160 may be air-tight, such that even when the air conditioning unit 130 or the furnace is powered on to provide cool or warm air to the rest of the building 101, a particular room 102 may not receive the cool or warm air when the mechanical vent 160 in the particular room 102 is closed.

As such, the air control system 100 enables unoccupied rooms 102 to be shut off completely (or partially) from the flow of cooling (or heating) air, thus providing the potential for appreciable energy savings. More specifically, the plurality of thermostats/sensors 140 that are disposed in the rooms 102 within the building 101 may sense temperatures in each of the rooms 102, and may also allow a user to manually change the temperatures in each of the rooms 102 by allowing the user to change temperature settings at the plurality of thermostats/sensors 140 in each of the rooms 102.

The plurality of mechanical vents 160 disposed in each of the rooms 102 may open and close based on the sensed temperatures in each of the rooms 102.

The computer 110 may control the furnace 120 and the air conditioning unit 130 to turn on and/or off based on temperature settings set by the user at the plurality of thermostats/sensors 140 in each of the rooms 102, and based on the temperatures sensed in each of the rooms 102. The computer 100 may also control the plurality of mechanical vents 160 to open and close based on the sensed temperatures with respect to the temperatures set by the user. When the plurality of mechanical vents 160 are opened, the warm air or cold air may be blown into the plurality of rooms 102. When the plurality of mechanical vents 160 are closed, the warm air or cold air may be prevented from entering into the plurality of rooms 102.

As such, the user may control the furnace 120, the air conditioning unit 130, and the plurality of mechanical vents 160 via the plurality of thermostats/sensors 140 or directly at the computer 110. This makes it convenient if the computer 110 is a mobile device, as the user may control the air control system 100 even when the user is not at home.

Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents. 

1. An air control system to control a flow of warm air and/or cold air within a building, the air control system comprising: a furnace to provide the warm air to rooms within the building; an air conditioning unit to provide the cold air to the rooms within the building; a plurality of thermostats/sensors disposed in the rooms within the building to sense temperatures in each of the rooms, and to allow a user to manually change the temperatures in each of the rooms; a plurality of mechanical vents disposed in each of the rooms to open and close based on the sensed temperatures in each of the rooms; and a computer to control the furnace and the air conditioning unit to turn on and/or off based on temperature settings set by the user in each of the rooms, and to control the plurality of mechanical vents to open and close.
 2. The air control system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of mechanical vents are air-tight.
 3. The air control system of claim 1, wherein the furnace provides the warm air to the rooms and the air conditioning unit provides the cold air to the rooms via a duct system disposed throughout the building and connected to the plurality of mechanical vents.
 4. The air control system of claim 1, wherein the computer controls the furnace and the air conditioning unit to turn on and/or off with respect to temperature settings set by the user at the plurality of thermostats/sensors in each of the rooms and based on the temperatures sensed in each of the rooms. 